INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, August 23
Traffic police have recommended concerned transport management offices to suspend licences of 439 drivers after they
were caught driving under the influence for the sixth time.
According to section 60 of Motor Vehicle and Transport Management Act-1993, if a
driver violates traffic rules for more than five times, concerned authority may suspend the driving licence of such drivers in the sixth
instance on the basis of the number of punch holes in the licence.
Anti-drink driving is one of the sustained campaigns being conducted by
The campaign stillcontinues ever since it was launched on 3 December 2011.
Senior Superintendent of Police Basant Kumar Pant, in-charge at
Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, said the concerned transport management office had suspended the licence of 439 drivers caught
committing DUI offence for more than five times.
The existing law does not say anything about alcohol limit and thus the law enforcement
agency has adopted zero tolerance policy towards drink-driving.
Seizure of a licence having five holes is referred to the transport
management offices for suspension for up to six months under the act
Traffic cops punch a hole on the bottom left corner of the licence for each offence.
Metropolitan Traffic Police Division toughened the
crackdown on 7 December 2012, claiming that a fine of Rs 1‚000 per offence and mandatory attendance for 20-minute lecture on traffic
safety did not deter drunk drivers.
According to Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, it booked as many 303,397 persons, including 1,817
women, so far for drink-driving in the valley since it launched the special campaign in the last eight fiscals to check rising road
accidents caused by DUI.
This campaign has not only helped reduce road accidents likely to be caused by drink-driving, but has also led to a
collection of more than Rs 275 million in revenue from the offenders.
Though the number of deaths increased to 254 in 8,918 road accidents
in fiscal 2018-19 compared to 194 in 6,381 accidents in previous fiscal, fatalities caused by road accidents attributed to drink and driving
account for only three per cent
Around 33 per cent of them are pedestrians, while others are riders, passengers and drivers.
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